Optical: Flares Nuke 15

Optical Flares for is the professional industry standard for designing and animating high-end lens flares directly within your compositing workflow. Developed by Video Copilot

Commercial VFX shots, sci-fi energy bursts, and practical lens emulation for broadcast. All held up in linear workflow without odd color shifts.

Video Copilot’s Optical Flares has long been the gold standard for creating procedural lens flares in post-production. With the release of Nuke 15, artists are looking to see how this essential plug-in integrates with the latest architecture. This guide covers everything you need to know about using Optical Flares in the newest version of Foundry’s flagship compositor. The Evolution of Flares in Nuke 15 optical flares nuke 15

nuke.pluginAddPath(“/path/to/OpticalFlares”)

As of mid-2025, the developers have announced Optical Flares 2.0 (beta) for Nuke 15.5. New features include: Optical Flares for is the professional industry standard

Still the gold standard for lens flares in Nuke 15

Visit the official plugin marketplace. Download OpticalFlares_Nuke15_1.6.0.exe (Windows) or .dmg (macOS). Do not use installers labeled for Nuke 13 or 11. Video Copilot’s Optical Flares has long been the

Attach a node to your plate. Track a bright light source (the sun, a car headlight, an explosion). Export the track data as translate.xy .

Nuke 15’s move toward more modern hardware means that GPU acceleration is more important than ever. Optical Flares leverages the GPU to provide real-time feedback in the viewer. This allows artists to tweak the "shimmer" or "chromatic aberration" of a flare while watching it react to the footage instantly.